DALLAS, TEXAS, STAGE LEFT (The Daily Whatever Press) — The Grand Prairie Independent School District would like us all to know that it is “conscious of the guidance provided by our leadership in Austin.” That’s from the district’s statement, explaining why it canceled the fall musical at South Grand Prairie High School in the Dallas suburbs. The musical was Little Shop of Horrors. The problem, in the district’s own words:
“Recently, a casting decision was made to place a female student in the role of a male character in the school musical.”
That’s it. That’s the horror.
The student is Ana Mota, a senior, who has gone public by name with her family. The show’s directors cast it gender-blind, and she won the role of Seymour Krelborn, the nerdy flower-shop clerk who raises a bloodthirsty plant. She has already played Jack in Into the Woods. She’s played Pinocchio. Nobody called Austin.
Casting was gender-blind, she told NBC5, and “theater is truth and people who fear truth they often want to trample over it.”
Suddenly Ana, I’m standing beside you. I’m already obsessed and would watch you in any role — male, female, nonbinary, whatever.
How You Cancel a Musical in Three Easy Steps
According to theater journalist Howard Sherman, who broke the story on his Substack — and the family’s account to local outlets — here’s how it went down.
The cast list went up. A few days later, the principal and two district administrators met with the theater directors.
About a week into rehearsals, the district “fixed” it. Mota was told she would no longer play Seymour. She could share the role of Audrey with the girl already cast as Audrey, and the male understudy would play Seymour.
Then came the ultimatum. Mota and her mother met with district leadership and, by their account, were told to accept the recasting or the show would be canceled. They said no. That afternoon, the district canceled the show.
The district says it’s now looking for a more “appropriate” musical.
Oh, Texas.
Do you get off on the pain you inflict?
The reasons, which keep changing
District spokesperson Sam Buchmeyer said Little Shop has “a romantic relationship” that “develops between the two main characters,” and “themes in the musical involving an abusive relationship.” The district says it wants to stay consistent with “Senate Bill 12” and “all applicable law.”
The 1986 movie is GenX canon: Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene as Audrey, Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist, and Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops as the voice of a giant plant that eats people.
The abusive relationship in Little Shop is between Audrey and her boyfriend, the dentist.
The district’s compromise left that part of the show exactly as written. And the romance? The district’s fix put Mota in Audrey’s role, opposite a boy, in that same romance and next to that same abusive dentist. Then it canceled the show anyway when she said no.
Which leaves exactly one thing the district objected to: a girl playing Seymour.
Yeah. No. Don’t feed the plants, Texas.
Which Senate Bill 12?
Texas has two laws called Senate Bill 12. One is the 2025 law banning DEI programs and instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in K–12 schools. The other is the 2023 law aimed at drag, which bans “sexually oriented performances” in front of minors. The district hasn’t said which one it means. NBC5 points to the 2025 law. Sherman, and the family, point to the 2023 one, the law best known for its anti-drag provisions.
A federal judge, David Hittner, ruled that drag law unconstitutional. Twice. The second time was August 25. “The vast majority of the law’s numerous applications violate the First Amendment,” he wrote.
So if the family is right, a district canceled a high school musical to comply with a law that is currently blocked, which was written about drag shows, which this is not. And if NBC5 is right, a girl playing a boy in a 1982 musical about a carnivorous plant now counts as gender-identity programming.
Pick your poison. The plant would.
“The law in itself doesn’t even apply to this situation,” Mota’s mother, Nancy Jimenez-Mota, told NBC5. To Sherman, she put it this way: “I’ve lived here 33 years in Texas. I have never been bothered by any drag shows, any drag queens.”
She asked the district, in writing, which statute it was applying and how. She hasn’t gotten an answer.
Four years ago, it was fine
The same school staged Little Shop of Horrors four years ago. Nobody called Austin then, either.
And this year, Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy, a school in the same district, is staging Little Shop of Horrors. Auditions are in November.
So the plant can stay. The abusive dentist can stay. The romance can stay. The girl who earned the lead has to go.
What this does to kids
My kid has used both she and they pronouns since adolescence. I’ve written about my experiences parenting her extensively on Pink Hair & Pronouns, including a story about how I wasn’t proud of them for coming out. I’m proud of who they are. I think about that every time a grown-up with a district email address decides which kids are allowed to be seen.
Because here’s what every student in that cast learned this month. You can win the part. You can learn the lines. And if the adults decide your body doesn’t match the script in their heads, they will burn down the whole show before they let you stand in the spotlight.
“It feels more like a punishment to everyone in the cast,” Mota told WFAA. It is a punishment. It’s a punishment for the crime of being a girl who wanted the bigger role.
Have these folks never visited a high school theater department? In most cases, it’s mostly girls. Having girls play male roles is laughably common. Except I’m not laughing at this. I’m outraged.
This is super timely and personal for me, as my daughter’s high school play opens tonight. She’s playing a male character, as are many other girls. She’s been working her ass off for months. She’s built a community of friends. The experience has been transformational for her, in the best of ways. Who TF cares if the gender of the role doesn’t match the actor?? They’re acting.
“You cannot simply deny a student an opportunity because she is a girl,” said Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center. The family is exploring a Title IX complaint. They plan to speak at the school board meeting.
Good. Go get ’em.
So, in summary: The plant can stay. The dentist can stay. The show can even go on at another school in the same district.
The girl who earned the lead is the only thing Grand Prairie ISD couldn’t stomach.
Feed me, Texas.
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Wait’ll they hear about Shakespeare.
And Peter Pan.
And…
Thank you.